Reference Guide

690
Surround Mixing
Configuring SONAR for Surround Mixing
The following table lists the downmixing settings in the Surround tab of the Project Options dialog
and gives a brief description of what the setting does. You can also manually enter other values
besides these preset ones:
To Downmix a Project
1. If you do not have a stereo bus in your project, create one by right-clicking in the Bus pane in the
Track view or Console view and selecting Insert Stereo Bus from the menu that appears.
2. Open the Project Options dialog (Options > Project command), select a center downmix level
and a surround downmix level in the Surround tab, and click OK.
3. In each of the surround buses, assign the output to a stereo bus.
4. Listen to your project through the stereo bus, and make any final adjustments to the stereo mix by
changing the values in the Surround tab of the Project Options dialog.
5. If you want to export your stereo mix, use the File > Export > Audio command. This command
obeys your downmix settings.
See:
Panning in Surround
Downmixing Setting Options
Center Downmix Level (dB) These options determine how much of the center is mixed to the left and
right.
• -3 dB
. Maintains the same level of center channel sound when you
listen in a typically reverberant room
• -4.5 dB
. A compromise level between -3dB and -6 dB
• -6 dB
. Maintains the same level of center channel sound when you
listen to direct sound without typical room reverberations
• -INF
. Eliminates all of the Center channel signal
Surround Downmix Level (dB) The amount of Left Surround and Right Surround mixed into the Left and
Right channels respectively.
• -3 dB
. Maintains the same level of surround
• -6 dB
. Reduces the level of surround so that it doesn’t compete with
center channel sound such as dialog
• -INF
. Eliminates all of the Surround channel signal
LFE Level (dB) The amount of the LFE channel mixed into the Left and Right channels
respectively.
• -12 (or type in a value)
. Lets you choose the level of LFE in the stereo
mix
• -INF
. Eliminates all LFE
Table 139.